The Ann Perkins blanket

When Millie was born, Steph and Andrew gave us a ton of baby gear. A bumbo, bouncer, swing, wipes, diapers, clothes, etc. you name it, we probably got some from them! I told her that I would crochet her a blanket in exchange.

Well, Millie is almost 15 months old now, and I just mailed it off to her! Talk about procrastinating. I am the queen. 

The inspiration for this blanket was Ann Perkins' blanket on Parks and Rec:

Steph picked the colors she wanted, I learned how to crochet a granny square, and then we were in business. It started off slowwwwly. We decided on the latter of these two types of square:

There were 8 different colors of yarn, 12 different squares, 8 of each square. 8 sets of squares each had 4 colors in them, and then the last 4 sets were solid. I modified THIS pattern for each square (changing colors every round), then used THIS method of stitching them together. Throw on 2 rows for a border and that was it! Much faster to type it than to do it. The blanket took me about a month and a half total. Most of the time, you'd find me crocheting on the bed/couch with a movie/show on. Thanks to crocheting, I got through the Everybody Loves Raymond series and 1.5 seasons of Project Runway in addition to keeping up on all the regulars. Lest you think me a neglectful mother, I should add that all this was done during naps and after bedtime, before Tyler came home from work (a tiny benefit to his late work hours).

Tyler was playing with some cartoon photo app

Before it was put together

Stitching it together

The border

Finished product!

If you're curious, I used Yarn Bee's Effervesce line. The colors are Shadow, Niagara, Morning Glow, Petal, Razzleberry, Creamsicle, Willowy, and Sardust. The yarn was SUPER soft and great to work with!

So that is the story of the Ann Perkins blanket. And of the last 2 months of my life! I can't wait to see it on Steph's couch. Thanks to Steph for her patience with my slowness, and thanks to Tyler for his patience with my neglect of household duties and with my yarn being everywhere all the time!